


Now He Understands

by crispchan



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 14:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8450263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crispchan/pseuds/crispchan
Summary: When Kyungsoo breaks up with him, Chanyeol says he understands, but as Kyungsoo and Jongin walk away, Chanyeol wipes his tears away because to be quite honest, he doesn't understand. At all.





	

When Kyungsoo breaks up with Chanyeol, the taller smiles, nods, and says he understands. He says that their relationship has been stale for a while now, and _honestly, I’m glad you had the courage to do what I couldn’t_ and Kyungsoo had sighed in relief and smiled gratefully as he and Jongin made their way out of the small café.  
  
But as soon as Kyungsoo and Jongin turn their backs on him, Chanyeol hurriedly wipes away his tears that had come as soon as he let the smile fall from his face. He rushes to the men's room and quickly douses his face with cold water from the sink, but even that isn’t enough to distract him from the unbelievable aching in his chest.  
  
Because, to be quite honest, he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t understand why all of a sudden Kyungsoo had started coming home late, always so deep within his work he couldn’t even look up for a second to smile at his boyfriend. He doesn’t understand where the Saturdates and lazy Sunday mornings went. He doesn’t understand how movie nights and dinner dates were traded in for overtime and promotions. He doesn’t know why Kyungsoo gave up the admittedly hard life they had for his work, and over time, for Jongin, the guy who they fought over and ended with Kyungsoo promising _you don't need to worry, Jongin isn't a threat at all_.  
  
Three months later and Kim Jongin has not only wormed his way into Kyungsoo’s heart, but had also managed to kick Park Chanyeol out from it completely.  
  
No, Park Chanyeol really doesn’t understand how they strayed so far from the path they’ve carved for themselves ever since high school. They were even voted by 70% of the school’s population to be the longest lasting couple for pete’s sake, but here they were, going separate ways, and Chanyeol is scared to death, because now he’s finally starting to realize that love is a fickle thing. The heart is easily swayed. One moment Kyungsoo had been completely in love with him and all his flaws, then one day, Kyungsoo woke up and suddenly he became the man who yells at Chanyeol for leaving the toilet seat cover up and for making a huge mess whenever he eats popcorn.  
  
And what scares Chanyeol even more is he’s still the same man who tolerated Kyungsoo even when he came home late and missed their move nights. He’s still the same man who waited for his boyfriend to come home even when he’s so tired himself that he can’t even wash up for the night. He’s still the same Park Chanyeol in high school who is completely head over heels for Do Kyungsoo, but the Do Kyungsoo who was once just as in love with him is not anymore, and Chanyeol just can’t understand how that could be.  
  
And as Park Chanyeol huddles into himself pathetically at the corner of a men’s room in a small café tucked away into the outskirts of Hongdae, he doesn’t understand why a small brunet comes in with an apron tied around his waist and doesn’t throw him a pitying or a disgusted look like how many others had given him before. No, this small brunet gives him a sympathetic smile, a chocolate milkshake, and actually sits down beside him.  
  
“W-what’s this for?” Chanyeol hiccups, wiping away the tear tracks on his face as he stares at the chocolate milkshake in his hands.  
  
“Well, most people use it to quench their thirst, some to satisfy their cravings-” The guy cuts himself off with a chuckle as he stares at Chanyeol’s blank face and raises his hands as if in surrender. “Okay, alright, I’m just messing with you. You just looked like you needed it is all. Oh, and don’t worry about it being poisoned. It’s not.”  
  
“And how would I know it’s not?” Chanyeol mutters, finally gathering up enough of his wits to reply. From his peripheral vision he can see some of the people entering the men’s room giving them weird looks, but strangely, he finds that he doesn’t mind.  
  
“Ah, that’s a good question,” the brunet mumbles and looks down as if in deep thought, even rubbing his chin as if he had a beard. “Well, the answer is-” he starts, turning to look at Chanyeol and dropping the serious look for a cheeky grin, “you don’t. But it’s a mean chocolate milkshake, so even if you die, I guess it’ll be worth it right? And you can even come back and haunt me as a ghost, I won’t mind, promise. I won’t even hire an exorcist if that makes you feel any better. I can’t really afford one, to be honest.”  
  
Chanyeol couldn’t help but let out a small, breathy chuckle at this.  
  
“Oh- there you are!” the brunet beams, pointing at Chanyeol’s smile. “I knew you look better when you smile. Everyone does. Such a shame no one does it all the time.”  
  
“Doing what?” Chanyeol quips, finally taking a sip of the milkshake, and the guy was right, it is a mean milkshake.  
  
“Oh you know,” the brunet says. “Smiling, being happy… etcetera, etcetera. But I guess that would be too much to ask, for someone to be happy all the time, I mean. I’m pretty down in the dumps now too.”  
  
Baekhyun lets out a chuckle when Chanyeol’s face morphs into one of disbelief. “Yes mister, I may not be crying it out like you but yeah, my day’s not been that good either. My landlord is really stressing me out lately. But I guess she has every right to stress me out, seeing as I’m stressing her out too by not paying the bills on time. But it’s not like I’m doing it on purpose! Seriously, if I could just get rid of these student loans and be as rich as a chaebol I would dutifully pay all my bills on time.”  
  
Chanyeol couldn’t help but smile at the pout forming on the brunet’s pinkish lips. The frown resting on his eyebrows that are framing small, dopey eyes is pretty cute too.  
  
“Oh, you probably don’t want to know my sob story,” the brunet says after a minute of silence that was filled with Chanyeol slurping on his milkshake. He rubs a hand on his nape awkwardly, but Chanyeol only shakes his head and says it’s okay, and it actually is. Chanyeol doesn’t understand it, but it somehow lessens the pain, knowing that someone is also having a bad day right now and knowing that this someone is willing to sit there and share the pain with him.  
  
“I’m Byun Baekhyun, by the way,” the brunet, or Baekhyun, as he had introduced himself, quips again after some time, reaching a hand out for Chanyeol to shake, and Chanyeol takes it, inwardly marveling at how smooth and tender it felt against his own, rougher, calloused hands, a result of playing the guitar too many times.  
  
“Chanyeol,” Chanyeol replies, letting go of Baekhyun’s soft hand. “Park Chanyeol.”  
  
“Hm, so, Mr. Park, mind telling me why you look so…”  
  
“Depressed?” Chanyeol offers, and Baekhyun huffs and shakes his head.  
  
“Nope, not the word I was looking for… Oh, wait! It’s down in the dumps!” Baekhyun beams, and Chanyeol couldn’t help but to smile back. Baekhyun’s smiles and laughter were strangely contagious.  
  
“Well, my boyfriend of ten years just broke up with me,” Chanyeol chuckles drily.  
  
“Ahh breakups, those are the worst,” Baekhyun says, but suddenly thinks better of it. “Hm, well, not the worst really, but it’s getting there, I suppose,” Baekhyun says, looking deep in thought that Chanyeol thinks the boy might be in another dimension, but then suddenly Baekhyun is turning to him and is all smiles once again. “But at least you have a milkshake! Nothing like a milkshake to get a smile back on your face!”  
  
Chanyeol would’ve protested, it wasn’t the milkshake that did the magic for him really, but as he stares, his eyes gradually take in the beauty sitting right beside him.  
  
Baekhyun is small, really small, much like Kyungsoo had been. Had they been standing up, Chanyeol estimates Baekhyun would’ve reached up only to his jaw, or to his shoulder, at the very least. He also has a mop of curly, brown hair that added to his innocent, boyish charm. His eyes are a chocolate brown – much like the chocolate milkshake Chanyeol is holding at the moment – and turns into crescents whenever he smiles. He has a button nose that Chanyeol is pretty ashamed to find he wants to squish, and lips that form a rectangular shape whenever he smiles or laughs.  
  
“Yeah, nothing like a milkshake…” Chanyeol mumbles, and Baekhyun chuckles, those sinful lips forming that cute rectangular shape, and this is how Chanyeol understands he is in very deep trouble.  
  
They talk more and find more about each other in the few hours – yes, hours – which they spent in the men’s room, ignoring all the weird stares coming from the other people that came and went.  
  
Baekhyun is apparently a college student majoring in Music. Chanyeol is surprised to find out that Baekhyun is older than him, and Baekhyun only laughs at his reaction when he finds out. Baekhyun had apparently gone down into the wrong path at some point in his life, got involved in some bad businesses and had to drop out of school, but now he tells Chanyeol that he’s pretty proud to say he’s in the right track again, even if it did come at the cost of student loans and grouchy landlords.  
  
Baekhyun is easy going, charming, talkative, but also a really great listener. When Chanyeol elaborates on his relationship with Kyungsoo, he doesn’t say it’s going to be okay or any of that inspirational stuff that doesn’t really work, instead, he pats Chanyeol’s back and smiles at him cheerfully, and Chanyeol doesn’t understand how but that smile seriously works wonders.  
  
They exchange numbers before parting ways, and Chanyeol still chuckles at the thought that they could have spent the whole afternoon inside the men’s room had Baekhyun’s manager not called him back to actually work, after all, Baekhyun’s shift isn’t over yet and Baekhyun had only popped in the men’s room to follow Chanyeol because apparently, Chanyeol had looked so down in the dumps that Baekhyun’s conscience couldn’t handle it if he hadn’t given Chanyeol a milkshake.  
  
Chanyeol still misses Kyungsoo, but texting with Baekhyun and having the brunet send him cute selcas every now and then really helps his mood (and his heart, if he’s being totally honest), and so, three days later, Chanyeol doesn’t even question it when he offers Baekhyun a spot in his now too empty apartment, and he doesn’t even question his heart when it starts beating rapidly because of the radiant smile on the waiter’s face.  
  
Three years later, and Chanyeol completely understands why it hadn’t worked out with Kyungsoo. As he sees Baekhyun rushing to get into the restaurant with his face flustered and sweaty, Chanyeol couldn’t help but chuckle at his boyfriend of three years.  
  
“Babe! Sorry, I know I’m late, traffic was hell and our chemistry professor is being a grouch,” Baekhyun grumbles, sitting down at the chair opposite of the taller. “Chemistry, seriously, why do I even have to take that subject, I’m majoring in music!”  
  
Chanyeol only laughs, shaking his head at his boyfriend before subtly flickering his eye to the corner to give a small nod at the waiter who is holding the champagne bucket in his hand.  
  
“What, you’re giving off this mysterious vibe, what’s going on?” Baekhyun frowns, turning his head to look at the direction where Chanyeol had been looking, but Chanyeol only chuckles.  
  
“It’s nothing to worry about, I already ordered for you,” he says, gesturing at the plate of lobster in front of Baekhyun. The brunet grins and thanks him before they simultaneously tuck in, with Chanyeol looking up at his boyfriend of three years every now and then.  
  
Tonight is their third year anniversary, and Chanyeol is pretty proud to say they’re not spending it in the corner of a men’s room somewhere, although, honestly, anywhere would be fine as long as he’s with his favorite person of all time.  
  
Baekhyun still looks as beautiful as ever, even with a frown on his face as he talks about how awful his professors had been today and how his classmates weren’t putting in the appropriate effort for their project that had to be done in groups. But he is also glowing, and Chanyeol knows it’s because he’s proud of himself for reaching this far.  
  
Baekhyun is at his fourth and final year in college, and he doesn’t have to worry about the difficulty of finding a well paying job while he’s fresh out of college because he had been called back by one of the entertainment companies he had auditioned in. Chanyeol couldn’t be any more proud.  
  
Baekhyun had helped Chanyeol a lot throughout the years, and Chanyeol had helped him too. He can safely say that they both made a great team. At first Baekhyun had been reluctant to accept Chanyeol’s financial help, but with gentle urging and well imposed puppy eyes and pouty lips (Baekhyun is a sucker for cute things), he finally accepted it but had vowed to pay Chanyeol back in some way after getting a decent job of his own.  
  
After being promoted at his job, they had both made the decision to move into a more spacious apartment, one that is both closer to Baekhyun’s school and also to Chanyeol’s job. Things have been pretty hectic lately because of his promotion and Baekhyun’s mid terms coming up. Chanyeol had been scared at first at the thought of heavier workload and the prospect of this relationship going down the same road as his and Kyungsoo’s, but they always managed to gravitate through their fights no matter how heated they were.  
  
Yes, they did make a great team, and Chanyeol is now ready to take it to the next level.  
  
Five minutes after finishing their food, a bucket of champagne is suddenly on their table, and a man with a violin plays a small number. Baekhyun’s face scrunches up into a face of confusion, but he waits for the man to finish playing before opening his mouth to speak.  
  
“Uh, thanks Mister, that was great and all but I think you've got the wrong table, there aren't any birthday celebrants here,” Baekhyun says, utterly mystified. He knows this restaurant only gets their musicians to play the violin for their customers when there is a special occasion. The musicial only laughs as Chanyeol stands up, reaching into his pocket to get a small, black box. “Hey, what’s going on? What-”  
  
Chanyeol only grins as Baekhyun trails off in shock when he sees Chanyeol dropping down on one knee.  
  
“Y-yah Park Chanyeol, what is this...” Baekhyun mumbles.  
  
While kneeling down on one knee, Chanyeol completely understands why there’s no particular reason he’s in love with Baekhyun but he still is anyway. And even when he finds a thousand reasons not to be, he knows he will always find that one reason to stay and to be in love with him.  
  
“Byun Baekhyun, will you marry me?”  
  
And as Baekhyun blinks and chokes out a delighted _‘Yes!’_ and people in the restaurant start cheering for them when Chanyeol slips the ring on Baekhyun’s ring finger and wraps his arms around the brunet’s waist to hoist him up into the air and swirl him around in excitement, Chanyeol completely understands that love works in the most mysterious ways, but it’s okay, because it gave him Baekhyun, and that’s all Chanyeol will ever need.

**Author's Note:**

> something my mind cooked up at the weird hours of the night. hope you liked it, let me know what you think by commenting below!


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